


Company Enough

by Azulet



Series: Friendships [15]
Category: Winterling Series - Sarah Prineas
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Cute, Cute Ending, Epic Friendship, Families of Choice, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, No Romance, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 05:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12336069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azulet/pseuds/Azulet
Summary: Rook is used to sleeping in a warm, cuddly pile with his puck brothers. So it's hard for him to fall asleep without them, when he's staying in the Lady Tree with Fer.





	Company Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This series is amazing! How is this the first story?

The pucks decided to collect what few belongings they had left in the Summerlands and move it to the nathe.

Rook helped them, but then returned to the Summerlands with Fer. She had promised to visit the other pucks, but after the stilth, she needed to tend to her lands.

Fray wasn’t happy about it, but Fer told Rook he could sleep in her house in the Lady Tree. Rook set up a reed mat on the floor of Fer’s room, next to her bed, to sleep on. The first night was fine, and Rook fell asleep quickly; the time night in a while when he wasn’t worried about the stilth.

The second night, though, he couldn’t fall asleep. He missed his brother pucks. Normally, they sleep together, in a big messy pile of limbs, keeping each other warm, so Rook wasn’t used to sleeping alone. His reed mat felt cold and lonely. It was even worse, because when they had accepted Fer as a puck, he felt the heart thread connecting him to Fer meld with the one connecting him to his brothers, and the single, united thread seemed stronger. But now he was separated from the others.

He still had Fer, though.

“Rook?” Fer’s sleepy voice sounded through the darkness.

 _I must have woken her accidently_ , Rook thought, and felt a little pang of guilt. It wasn’t her fault he couldn’t fall asleep.

“Rook, are you alright?”

Rook let out a frustrated huff, and answered, “I am, yes.”

There was a rustling next to him, and he heard the soft sound of Fer’s feet on the floor.

“Where are you?” She whispered, even though there was no one else to wake up.

He sat up, waving his hand around until he found her leg. _If I was in dog form, I might be able to see,_ he thought. But then he wouldn’t be able to talk.

Fer sat down next to him, leaning against her bed, and took his hand in her own.

“I’m fine,” he repeated.

“You don’t sound fine,” Fer said, and he felt happy little hum from the heart thread connecting them.

Rook frowned into the darkness, and almost like she could hear it, Fer asked “What is it?”

“I can’t sleep,” he said reluctantly.

“Why?”

It was annoying that Fer couldn’t just let him be unhappy; she had to figure out what was wrong. But it was also comforting, because that was what Fer did.

“Nothing,” Rook muttered.

“Rook,” Said Fer insistently, “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

He growled softly, but Fer just gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“I’m not used to being without my brothers,” he finally said. His voice was so quiet he wasn’t sure she could hear him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered back, “Is there anything I can do? You can leave, if you want.”

He shook his head, then remembered it was dark and she couldn’t see him.

“I’ll be fine, no.”

Rook pulled his hand out of hers, and lay back down on his reed mat bed. He turned away from her, curled on his side, and tried to relax.

There was more rustling from behind him, and suddenly he felt a warm presence behind him.

“Fer?” he asked.

She didn’t answer, just wrapped her arm around him and pulled them closer together.

“Now you’re not alone,” she whispered, her breath tickling the back of his neck.

“I have you, yes,” he said, closing his eyes.

Rook was asleep in a few moments, and Fer followed soon after.


End file.
